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MG6 1.9 DTi

We see if the long-awaited diesel engine makes the MG6 a contender in the crowded family car market

Verdict

3

The new DTi is a great new addition, but it’s not enough to propel the MG6 to the top of its class. The car rides well, and the suspension changes hide the additional weight of the new gearbox and engine, yet economy and emissions still aren’t great. On the plus side, the 6 is well equipped and comes in £1,655 cheaper than the equivalent Skoda.

On its launch 18 months ago, the MG6 arrived in a class where diesels make up 88 per cent of sales – but it was offered only with a 1.8-litre petrol engine. Now, though, MG has introduced a 1.9-litre diesel, which promises improved performance and lower running costs.

Unlike the petrol engine, which was essentially just a reworked version of the old Rover K Series powerplant, the DTi is an all-new MG-developed engine. On paper, this car’s 0-62mph performance is half a second faster than the petrol’s, at 8.9 seconds, but as it produces 350Nm of torque from 1,800rpm, it feels a lot quicker during everyday driving.

Fuel economy is 53.5mpg and CO2 emissions 139g/km – far from class-leading, yet much better than the petrol model’s 35.6mpg and 184g/km. That’ll save company car buyers around four per cent in tax, too.

To complement the engine there’s a new six-speed manual box, and that extra ratio really helps with motorway refinement – we saw only 1,800rpm at 70mph. However, things do get noisy towards the top of the rev range when you’re driving around town.

Improvements to the MG6 stretch beyond the powertrain, too, with new speed-sensitive electro-hydraulic steering and fresh suspension settings. The car rides well over bumpy back roads and feels agile in corners as well.

The 6’s trump card has always been its value for money, and the diesel is no different. Our SE had dual-zone climate control, cruise control, a USB input, 17-inch alloys, hill-hold assist, parking sensors and sat-nav for £18,915. That’s £1,655 less than the Skoda Octavia 2.0 TDI 140 Elegance, although the Skoda’s cleaner engine puts it into a cheaper company car tax bracket.

And while the MG6 isn’t quite as spacious as the Octavia, there is lots of room inside. The seats are supportive and have large side bolsters, and the wheel adjusts for reach and rake.

The boot has a huge 498-litre capacity, but although the hatch-style opening aids access, there’s a high lip to lift luggage over. And while everything looks smart inside, the buttons are ill-fitting and some of the plastics in lower regions feel flimsy.

Disqus - noscript

Submitted by pablovski123 on Wed, 2012-11-21 14:24.

I'm really quite confused. It rides well, is quick, reasonably efficient and fairly clean, is comfortable and has a big boot - Oh, and it's very well specced and cheap. I see so clearly now why it would only get 3 stars....?

Submitted by davidj on Wed, 2012-11-21 15:18.

Performance for the Petrol 1.8 is 8.4 seconds, half a second quicker than the diesel.

Official economy figures for the petrol are 37.7mpg & 174g/km.

This inacuracy is why i stopped my subscription to Autoexpress!

Submitted by cc on Wed, 2012-11-21 18:25.

typical auto express verdict,if it was german in origin, 4 stars, because its british only 3!!

"However, things do get noisy towards the top of the rev range when you’re driving around town."

Why would you be using the top of the rev range whilst driving around town?

Submitted by JTS2 on Thu, 2012-11-22 10:11.

wonder if this means they'll build more than single figures at Longbridge this month? Interesting they have dropped the HPAS now, probably for package as much as emissions.

Submitted by MG guy on Thu, 2012-11-22 10:14.

Pavolski, 3 stars is par for me. Sounds about right. Its good, but nowhere near class leading. You cannot just give every car 4/5 stars...

Submitted by Huan Hunglou on Thu, 2012-11-22 11:28.

I have yet to see this car on the roads!Looks as though it was designed on the back of a fag packet...

Submitted by Cromwelltrue on Thu, 2012-11-22 15:49.

I believe British Magazines and many more media besides or very even county authorities and councils etc are very much German product biased or even besotted!

Why beats me - I have lived in Düsseldorf for around 30 years or more and can cite numerous German complete screw ups on projects at the drop of the proverbial hat!

A very current one being the disastrous EURO which started off completely unprepared and unplanned and not even well thought through! Its becoming more and more of a disaster. Poor inept Merkel and the German tax payer are pouring bilions into into this sinking ship EURO! And its slip slowly and steadilly sinking!

EADS the German French defence aerospace company is another and they were set up to stitch up poor British Aerospace in the merger propsed by Endfers and Co! It did not work and BA were saved after a very close shave!

BER the Berlin Capital City Prestige Premium airport is a disaster! Look it up on Google - its about nearly 24 months since its first official opening and date! this has long past and has been continually postponed last dates were spring and then autumn 2012 then it was spring 2013 and now its autumn 2013! Great German precision planning and organisation??

Latest is that some of the new BER Airport buildings will now have to be demolished and rebuilt!

On car its a siumilar story and you only have to follow the path of Schrempp at Daimler Benz which he succesfully nearly ran into the ground and literally halved its total stock exchange share value! Great German Planning?

So please give MG Motors in Longbridge something of a level playing field and a fair chance! Remember they are slowly but surely picking up the pieces left scattered on that desolate site where BMW and shady Britons more or less ran a great British Heritage left by Willian Morris and Herbert Austin completely into the ground!

On this theme why do British police usually go for either foreign built BMWs or Volvos? This official blind stupidity costs British jobs and so pays less taxes in our finances from which their salaries and flashy cars are payed!

Why does Northumbria, Tyne and Wear and Yorkshire not drive Nissan Qashgais and Derbyshire and Lancashire not drive Toyota police cars?

Why does vthe NHS etc use Mercedes Sprinters more less to 85% and not Ford Transit of LCV in Birmingham? Must we buy expensive German products and so sacrifice more Britsh jobs?

It cannot be price and certainly not reliability so I assume its kick backs and financial lobbying of British decsion makers!

Why do we not stand up and say enough is enough!

Its bad enough paying billions each year into the EUSSR in Brussels!

Submitted by Cromwelltrue on Thu, 2012-11-22 15:52.

British jobs and so pays less taxes in our finances from which their salaries and flashy cars are payed!

Why does Northumbria, Tyne and Wear and Yorkshire not drive Nissan Qashgais and Derbyshire and Lancashire not drive Toyota police cars?

Why does vthe NHS etc use Mercedes Sprinters more less to 85% and not Ford Transit of LCV in Birmingham? Must we buy expensive German products and so sacrifice more Britsh jobs?

It cannot be price and certainly not reliability so I assume its kick backs and financial lobbying of British decsion makers!

Why do we not stand up and say enough is enough!

Its bad enough paying billions each year into the EUSSR in Brussels!

Submitted by Charles on Thu, 2012-11-22 16:22.

Agree they cannot all get 5 stars but then the media is German besotted generally!

Put a BMW Sign or Mercedes Star on a horse and cart and it would get a generous 4 stars in the UK!

Submitted by Charles on Thu, 2012-11-22 16:26.

I agree completely! Why do we buy foreigh policar cars and ambulances here in the UK?

It certainly does NOT happen either in France or Germany so something is wrong here!

Stop this German worshipping - look where its getting the EU! - and lets have correct fair official tenders and have the official orders carfefull scrutinied!

davidj: And finally on the the datasheet 8.9 sec is indicated for the diesel. So, is 8.9 a half second quicker than 8.9? Perhaps they wanted to say that the diesel 0-62 time is actually half a second slower that the petrol car. It is really nice to try to figure out what a journalist wants to say. :-)

Submitted by Alex on Thu, 2012-11-22 17:11.

To those asking why we don't use Ford Transit ambulances- umm? Well whats British about them? Ford of Europe is a defacto German car company, and btw Transits are built in Turkey- have been for years.

Submitted by johnfalckt on Thu, 2012-11-22 21:15.

So you are all going to buy one then?

Submitted by Rob on Thu, 2012-11-22 22:24.

Please, please, please, please, please, MG. Build a front engined, rear wheel driven sports car!!! Mazda have had it all their own way for 20 years!! I know the bully boys at BMW wanted their Z cars to reign supreme and prevented development, but the nasty Germans have gone now. Take over from where TVR left off. But with better build quality, obviously, and you'll be on a winner.

Submitted by vagfan on Fri, 2012-11-23 13:46.

Its actually chinese, not British. It also looks like a boring Proton Gen.2. Give me the quality Skoda over this heap anyday.

Submitted by Europe-Win on Fri, 2012-11-23 13:54.

Oh get off your high horse - Britain isn't great and never has been, it's a blot in the ocean. The UK buys cars from German manufacture because they are built better and far more reliable than anything built in Britain, and come cheaper too. And the French do buy non-French cars for Police use. The Ford police cars are always in the workshops, whereas the Skoda ones are only ever in for routine servicing. Same with the ambulances - the Vauxhall first responders are crap compared to all the Octavia Scouts.And yes, I know, Fords and Vauxhalls aren't built in Britain either but are so-called British makes. I'm British, but certainly not proud of the fact. having lived abroad in France, you dont get the granny-bashing yobs hanging around in the villages and towns every night like you do here, nor do you get all the drunken violence every weekend, or the football hooligan behaviour of chav ridden britain.

Submitted by Nuffield Organisation on Fri, 2012-11-23 14:02.

The FWD Golf?

It was actually developed from the then advanced design Morris ADO16!

True!

I was with NEL/BMC then in those days when the old VW Beetle with rear air cooled engine was running out of steam and sales and Wolfsburg deperately need new design replacements!

So they tried to "discreetly" buy ADO16s and in fact purchased about 20 from various dealers in Germany and Switzerland for trials and detailed evaluation!

Dealers of course reported this back to their Importers!

Wolfsburg then developed a double strategy of new moden VWa) Its successors the Type 3, Type 4, and the NSU-based K70 were all less successful than the Beetle!

This led to a VW finance crisis in the early 70s!

b) Early 70s VW were looking at a further developement of an FWD ADO 16 but with different bodywork!

There were several designs favourde - mostly terrible - go to Wolfsburg and see them!

In the end a non German design was chosen! Giugiaros - and that was the Golf I - Thank you Issigonis and BMC!

Submitted by Abingdon on Thames on Fri, 2012-11-23 14:12.

Problem is with the SAIC common design and production tooling at hand this would mean completely new designs and tooling!

Plus this type of car whilst popular in the sporting media etc is not exactly a high volume seller in major world markets!

SAIC? In fact they build both AUDI, VW and GM vehicles and OEM Components for the Chinese motor industry. Not exactly beginners!

MGs step by step strategy to obtain a market share in initially the UK with proven and payed for components seems to me the most sensible course if not dramatic then businesswise sound in these volatile economic times!!

Submitted by Rüsselsheim on Fri, 2012-11-23 15:09.

Oh oh! Touched a nerve?

Sound like all is really great now in France with Hollande and the Unions?

Its probably the great organisation they have there and the patriotic French spirit in the banlieues?

It must be something in the air in France that causes problems with Ford police vehicles?

In Germany there is no reliabilty problem with either Ford or OPEL vehicles either in city use or with the Autobahn Police.

Contrary to the given opinion - British built Nissan, Toyota and Honda cars are both extremely reliable and good export vehicles with good demand.

Jaguar and Landrover are even better and are actually expanding and working several shifts per day at a time when Renault - Citroen and PSA & Co with their various plants in France are not doing too well to put it politely.

Even cooperating now with GM OPEL to reduce their costs and increase efficiency in fact.

Strange?

Submitted by johnfalckt on Sat, 2012-11-24 07:15.

I stand corrected! Although that wasn't the point I was getting at, I should have said I'd prefer a five year old Renault Megane Diesel.

Thanks for the info though, and I like the story, I now want to go to Wolfsburg! Issigonis and Giugiaro were both legends in automotive design, I just don't see where the MG6 fits in to all this.

Submitted by cxv on Mon, 2012-11-26 01:00.

German cars are so over rated. I have a '11 Mini Cooper S and a '08 Honda CRV and my Mini have gone to the dealership twice to replace the radio. Our CRV only goes to the dealership for service and have been trouble free. I am seriously thinking getting rid of the mini once the free service expires and get another Honda or maybe a Subaru.

Submitted by Adrian Hilder on Tue, 2012-11-27 18:02.

"reasonably", "fairly" - synonyms for average. The interior is dull compared to the now quite desirable offerings from Kia and Hyundai. Take a look at 4 star and 5 star cars and it's easy to see why 3 stars is being "fairly" generous ;-)It's not anywhere near good enough to be wearing an MG badge.I don't think it's anti-British or pro-German. Jaguar XF anyone?

Submitted by Andy Midd on Thu, 2012-11-29 21:58.

Looks really good. I'd like to try the diesel...

Submitted by Mike Stride on Tue, 2013-03-26 05:13.

Realistic fuel consumption figures. Anyone who quotes 70ish mpg for cars of this size either drive like Doris or else are descendants of Baron Munchausen.

Submitted by pablovski123 on Sat, 2013-03-30 11:41.

The problem is that some of the Roewe versions actually have nicer styling and interiors!

Submitted by pablovski123 on Sat, 2013-03-30 11:42.

I think you mean LDV who closed a few years ago and Transits haven't been built here for years either. (though I wholly agree with your sentiment!)

Submitted by Peter on Fri, 2013-05-03 18:28.

I sold German cars for years and whilst they are technologically advanced and superficially lovely the reliability is shocking. Smart buys now are South Korean.

Submitted by Craig England on Wed, 2013-10-09 15:32.

I guess that depends on whether design and engineering mean anything to you or not.